Makeup at 10 years old?

I can remember getting very excited putting on stage makeup for a school performance aged about 11. Then I would try my big sister's makeup or mum's, without them knowing.

Later the fashion was black eye makeup up and pale face, even pale lips. I was told I looked like a corpse.

What once shocked me was seeing a baby with pierced ears and earrings. Looked like child abuse but apparently is quite common.

I hardly wear makeup now but perhaps ought to start. Is it ever too late?

If it takes more than five minutes then it takes too long.
However, I look wan without any at all so I use some if I'm going out, Grammaretto.

If you look fine without any, don't bother (lucky you!).

Granddaughters are aged 11&12 and all their school friends seem to want face cream, hand cream, lip gloss, mascara, nails done( not for school). Also, they like a lot of experimenting with hair styles etc. Seems to be the trend now. Most grans here probably got interested in such things at 13-15 yrs old? Therefore 10/11/12 does seem too young to most of us. However, I feel my daughter keeps a good balanced attitude with her girls, and certainly wouldn’t let them go out looking ridiculous or overdone for their age.

Social media and marketing are pushing products these young girls really don't need.
As they get older the pressure will be on for more and more which could lead to 'having work done' such as botox etc.

I was a teenager in the 1970's and only wore mascara and lippy, the natural look was part of the feminist revival.
Its a sad start of affairs in my opinion.

BlueBelle

Dreadful but nothing you can do about it thank goodness all mine were about 14 when they started and then just for special occasions not daily
I detest the idea of these make up parties and pamper parties it just teaches girls they need to be into all this stuff to be attractive which is a sure fire way of them not feeling attractive without it
There are so many better parties they could be having and at 10 I d rather see them romping around getting sweaty than learning how to put eyeshadow and lipstick on

Were you 10 Eazybee when you were buying pink ice
lipstick?

When I was 10 I was picking out the red Smarties, licking them and rubbing them over my lips.

I’ve never been into make up or hair.

I see girls walking to the local grammar school, hair, make up, perfume….

Anyone would think they were on a night out, not going to school.

Miss W, our senior mistress 60 odd years ago, would have had a heart attack if we had arrived at school dolled up like they are nowadays.

As for 10 year olds, look at Princess Charlotte attending church on Christmas Day or the Royal Carol Service.

Looked stunning for her age, but so natural and unspoiled.

Long may it continue.

It's nothing new for young Girls to like make up. I think I was about 10 when I was given some Blue eye shadow, I thought I looked like the "Bees Knees ', my Mum had no issue with it.

My DD when she was at similar age, I organised a Lady who did" Girls Make up Parties" to hold one our house for her and some friends for her Birthday party.
All girls mature at different rates, I know it's not unusual for girls to start their Periods around 9- 10 years these days.

Lovely though Princess Charlotte looked, calendar, she didn't look like other girls of her age.

Sorry to anyone who allows or thinks it’s good for a 10 year old to be in make up. I don’t mean playing around with friends I mean allowed to go out or even encouraged by mothers giving these awful, make up, pamper parties which just teach girls they have to alter their looks to be accepted and that looks are the most important part of them . A dreadful message

There is a huge difference between trying a bit of your older sister or mums lippy on in the bedroom to encouraging girls to think that looks are the only important thing about them.

Those American beauty pageants are the absolute pits and should be banned imo I hope they never get popular over here

I know it's not unusual for girls to start their Periods around 9- 10 years these days
This has absolutely nothing to do with encouraging a girl that she needs to change her face to be happy/popular/accepted Visgirl .

Madmeg

Back in the sixties I was using make-up at age 13-ish but was pretty useless at it. My dad used to say "Get that muck off your faee" and "Why are you wearing a belt instead of a skirt?" It did me no harm. Some girls were like me, some not. We all grew up okay.

I soon got fed up of trying to look like I thought I should, and reverted to using very little make-up. I'm even lazier now - but so are lots of others in their seventies.

Yep to the lazier re make-up in one's 70's.

Once I started using eye make-up (ie as an adult) I always wore it. But basically there was a combination of things that meant I stopped wearing it at 60 pretty much on the dot - 1. I started the trip moving over to Wales then and had eye make-up on at the beginning of the journey and didn't put it back on again ever subsequently (ie I'd moved from a city to a rural small town and "dress down" a level or two as well now). 2. What happened to my eyes - agh?!!! As in I used to have nice big eyes I kept getting complimented on - but then the eyelashes and even part of the eyebrows went and there's not much in the way of eyelashes to put mascara on anymore and they've even changed colour (ie they used to be green - but now they're sorta blue/grey). I'd have to have fake eyelashes and even tinted contact lenses now for them to look like "my" eyes again now.

Add that I would say men stop being fanciable at around 50 at the latest - if that - in an area where a noticeable number of people have bad teeth. So - what's the point of "giving more than you are getting" so to say?

My granddaughter has been experimenting with make-up since she was about nine. She is 13 now, and any make-up she wears looks completely natural. She is lucky in that her mother, my DIL, always looks lovely and natural, so any advice she gets will be good.

My brother was very worried to see his granddaughter, aged 7, wearing lipstick in a dancing display. He said it ‘turned his stomach’. I suspect he was thinking about those American beauty pageants. I reassured him that I also wore make-up for ballet displays when I was a young child, and I grew up quite normal!

Allira

Ps younger one is a teenager, not 10.

I have noticed mothers asking for advice re pamper and makeup parties for 8 year olds on a local social media page!

Gd had a pampered party for her 9th birthday this year. Can’t say I approved. In fact I strongly disapproved although I didn’t dare say so.

Pamper not pampered

As Maremia said if girls are part of dance or cheerleading or any other similar activity it does seem to go hand in hand hand. I wouldn’t be concerned pretty sure she won’t be prepping for school or anything like that. Just experimenting.

Watching Educating Yorkshire on TV I think the schoolgirls with huge cow-like false eyelashes and drawn on eyebrows look dreadful. Some are only Year 7 and 8 but look like hookers. I am surprised the school let them attend looking like that.

10 is too young for makeup, they don't need it. But say nothing, it's up to her parents and they won't thank you for your opinion.

My granddaughter always has nail varnish on, except for school, and I think it's awful. But again, I don't say so.

kittylester

Lovely though Princess Charlotte looked, calendar, she didn't look like other girls of her age.

But in what way did she ‘not look like other girls of her age’?

Because she was wearing a very smart, tailored, knee length coat, with matching tights?

Because her hair was beautifully shiny, brushed and not obscuring her pretty face?

And she was wearing sensible, toning shoes?

Her wise mother knows that in her position as daughter of a future king, she needs to look the part.

I am quite sure in a few years time, Charlotte will be a very attractive, modern, relatable Princess, who will dress stylishly but suitably, certainly in a public role.

And in her private life, she will look like many young women of a similar age.

It's sexualising children and is clearly wrong.

Small wonder 10 year olds want make up when all media portray every young woman with eyelashes like hedgehogs, eyebrows apparently cut out and stuck on, thick paint on face, blown up lips and plastic nails inches long. Hair must be like Venus arising from the waves.Thank goodness it will be all different in a few years time.

My 10 yr old gd and her friends ‘do skin care’. They all have good quality potions and lotions and give each other ‘facials’.

She wears a little mascara for special occasions and looks very natural and pretty.

She gives her mum a facial and I had one before Christmas. Very delicate touch and felt lovely .

Cheap childrens make up isn’t good.

I don’t remember when I started using make up. It was only eyeliner, mascara and lipstick back then.
One GD started about 12 and now does hair and beauty. She’s a good advert for her job, but it takes a while to achieve the natural look. Another older GD said she doesn’t bother with that yet except for moisturiser. She’s a swimmer and water sporter so that’s probably a good idea.

flappergirl

It's sexualising children and is clearly wrong.

Why is it sexualising children? They are copying adults.

My 12 year old DGD wears very subtle makeup and looks fine. I think she does it for herself.

Crikey!...and I've just seen a mini-video today from one of the Arabic countries (can't recall which one) and there's a couple of baby girls wearing make-up (false eyelashes on one of them)! ....whew....

So I guess it's very much a cultural thing in some ways. As I noticed back in my home city - when I went to work and there was women in my agegroup wearing make-up and (always blonde) hairdye. But, in my social life = no hairdye usually/no make-up usually (hence my settling for just a little bit of eye make-up along more subtle lines) - so I'd be suitable for both settings (especially my own one - ie the social life one).